Moreno Valley may take another shot at asking voters to increase the city’s hotel bed tax.

The City Council will decide Tuesday, June 7, whether to place a measure on the November ballot to raise the tax paid by those who stay at hotels and motels from 8 percent to 13 percent.

A previous attempt to raise it by three percent in November 2010 was soundly defeated, with 68 percent voting no.

City officials have occasionally brought up the prospect of revisiting the issue ever since. In January, during a discussion on possibly phasing out the city’s utility users tax, most council members supported a rise in the transient occupancy tax, as its formally known.

Moreno Valley now gets $1.1 million a year, with a five percent increase expected to provide another $650,000 a year, according to Chief Financial Officer Marshall Eyerman’s report at that meeting. The revenues go into the city’s general fund, over which the council has broad discretion on spending.

City Councilman George Price said he sees an increase as a chance to improve city services without costing city taxpayers.

“It allows us to generate some revenue that I hope would go towards public safety,” he said.

The 8 percent rate has been in place since Moreno Valley became a city in 1984 and is one of the lowest in Riverside County, Eyerman said. The rate varies from 10 to 13 percent among neighboring cities. Riverside, for example, is at 13 percent.

“It’s pretty significant how far below we are to most of the cities in Riverside County,” Price said.

Moreno Valley officials have said the first measure lost because voters didn’t understand that only visitors to city hotels and motels would pay the tax.

“People assumed it was a tax on them,” Price said. “We really need to educate our residents about exactly what this is about, how it affects them.”

The measure would require a majority vote to pass. It comes after the city’s approval last month of plans for two three-story hotels on Day Street.